School holidays - cheap ideas

nzmegs

Ok it is the first day of my debt free life style holidays. My kids are already driving me mad (the weather isn't helping) and i am desperate for things to keep them amused.
They are 5 and 8, a boy and a girl and love things like the X-Box, which I don't want them to play too often.
A little background on our situation - my husband used to be a very well paid exec. We had some small debts but always paid everything. But he hated his job and so decided to start his own business as a sole trader builder/tradesman. He is doing very well but the set up costs - van, tools etc put us 18,000 in the red. It took us a year to really take stock of the situation and to realise that we can no longer live the lifestyle we used to. My husband is now a much calmer person who sees his kids much more often, I am now working 25 hours a week, which has improved my life too but we are on half our previous income, with alot of debt.
I don't need advice on dealing with the debt. we have juggled the credit cards and set up a game plan to snowball them and have them paid in about 3-4 years.
I am selling everything we don't need on Ebay and using that money for gifts and anything non - essential, I have slashed our food bill by more than a third and trimmed back every expense, but we still don't have money for the holidays, movies, theme parks (all the stuff we used to enjoy.)
I am, of course, not complaining about our current lifestyle as the pros outweigh the cons, I just want to make sure my children are getting a school holiday they will enjoy.
Does anyone have any good ideas for stuff to do.Or ways of getting sustantial discounts on things? Or better still, free?
thanks everyone!

LJD1_2

Hiya,

I know what you mean about the weather not helping! These are a few things I do;

1) Find all those art kits they've been given for christmas and birthdays and you've never got round to doing.

2) Baking or let them make a whole meal. My 8 and 6 year old love doing that and then serving it up.

3) PJ day where they stay in their pajamas all day and it's the one day they can play on the playstation, watch tv, play board games all day. This is always their favourite day of the holiday.

4) Check with your council, leisure centre, national trust places, for cheap / free activity days that they often hold.

5) Go to the cinema at lunch time but take your own sandwiches, drinks etc and have a picnic there. I know you're not supposed to do that but we always do as it's a lot cheaper.

6) Depending where you live get them to sort out toys / books they don't want and have a yard sale. My neighbours just did this and though my friend kept an eye on them to make sure they were safe they made about £25.

7) Meet up with friends children so they can entertain themselves.

All simple stuff but it keeps mine happy. Good luck xx

hypno06

Some cinemas do holiday specials - 10am showing of something like scooby doo or rugrats, (or other oldish film) but for £1.

Bowling alleys often have early bird offers too - I think ours is kids bowl free before a certain time.

Go to your local tourist information office - they will have details of nature walks and the like, most of which will be free.

Get the children involved in the money making - find a mid week car boot and do that with them.

Even getting them involved in the every day stuff helps - get them to write out the shopping list and do a menu plan for the week. You may need to modify it, but it will keep them quiet for a bit and will be teaching them good things at the same time!

But above all, don't think that they are having a crap summer holiday - if they have parents who are less stressed and who are prepared to spend time with them, they really won't miss the theme park stuff.

Storm

Depends what your kids like doing really, weather & where you are in the country but stuff I remember from summer holidays:

- our local library did a 'book trail' where you'd get badges for each book you read over the summer - my sister & I got through about a book a day doing this (thankfully library was within walking distance with no main roads, so we were allowed to go by ourselves from a young age)

- we grew up by the coast, so lots of days at the beach with a picnic - and being bought an ice-cream was a treat, not an every time occurence!

- walks in the local woods - apparently the blackberries are out really early this year & we used to love blackberry picking (and then helping make them into pies, crumbles & jams!)

- we were members of English Heritage and used to go to lots of activities at the local sites

- visiting grandparents (obviously need them to be willing) - ours only lived 2 miles away, but we'd go individually which gave each of us the glorious time of having people completely to ourselves (didn't really do anything special, but it was the time I remember my Grandma telling me about her childhood etc, which is so precious to me now she's gone)

- my dad would always have at least a week's leave when we didn't go anywhere, and this was DIY week in the house - don't know how much help we actually were, but I have fond memories of stripping wallpaper, painting skirting boards (we were shorter so got that job!) and trying to lay a patio which to this day is pretty wonky!

As others have said, the things that stick in my mind weren't the expensive trips that were few & far between tbh, but the time spent with my family doing pretty mundane stuff.

HairyHandofDartmoor

It is tough to know what to do if it rains as all the free stuff tends to be outdoors, but I would sling on raincoats and wellies and go out even if it is wet. Nothing is worse than being cooped up at home with bored children!

Our city centre library does free craft workshops and such like which would be suitable for kids who are of primary age, so it may be worth finding out if yours does. I'm sure you will have thought of the local library but they sometimes do storytime or reading schemes as Storm suggested.

You could try taking them out for a walk in the rain, and then when you get home paint, or with collage, make some rainy day pictures!

Get yourself invited to as many friends houses as possible as new toys and someone new to play with will always entertain them.

Swimming is reasonably cheap compared with theme parks, especially if you have a leisure pool.

Finally if the weather is good then there are picnics in the park, or mystery bus rides, and tons of other stuff you can do!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

hi nzmegs, I have 2 children but they are early teens so different ball game. I do nights so we have an agreement that if they are quiet until midday (they get up then anyway most of the time!) we do things then.
I must admit, I don't feel as if I should be there to constantly entertain them but encourage them to find things to do themselves. I believe that the gift of time is one that is underrated in our hectic busy lifestyle of today so don't worry if they have time to fill, that can be a good thing if directed towards constructive pastimes.
When we were kids we didn't have much (get the violins out!) I remember going and rummaging in the dustbins at the back of the school to bag old books that had been thrown away. We used the chucked out pencils and just sharpened them into life again (must have been MSE even back then!)
I also remember playing with marbles for hours in the grate at my grans house with the kids next door.
Bottom line? Had no money but we had time to play and I have happy memories of my childhood.
I try and do things with my 2 as I am aware that soon they will be too old to want me around cramping their style, we go to the showcase cinema on a wednesday mornings for the bookworm event (free) http://www.showcasecinemas.co.uk/special_prisons.php#bookworm
pop my own corn and take pop in.
The library is good for the schemes they run and just playing games and getting them to help round the house is a good one.
I remember my kids liked star charts when they were that age and they loved doing jobs round the house to get star to stick on their charts (get them to make their own) when they fill it up they get a treat, doesn't have to be expensive, rent a dvd from the library etc..
Hope you have a great holiday with them, seems like yesterday since mine were that age, try and enjoy it and you'll wake up one morning soon and they'll be off to school!
Happy hols

densy786

can someone plse help dnt know how to use this thread thingy? want advice on how to get cheap entry via this train scheme we are a group of 4 adults 8 children aged 14,13,11,7,5,4,1,3mths we want to go to london zoo how much would this cost us ?

JayneC

Hi nzmegs,

If you shop at Tesco save up the clubcard points to exchange for days out at theme parks - I've done this for the past couple of years as I have 5 kids and would've cost around £200 for day at a theme park!!
We sometimes have indoor picnics, get kids to help make the food and lay out a rug or blanket in the living room - you could watch a DVD whilst you eat.
If you don't mind them making a bit of a mess let them set up 'camp' in their rooms. They can make a den with blankets and sheets- mine used to play for ages in their dens with not much else (although they could take 'supplies' and have a picnic under cover.)
If you have a parks dept at the local council they sometimes do activities -making bird boxes, bug hunting, pond dipping and the like. Also museums as well as libraries sometimes do stuff.
We are members of English Heritage too -it's only £30 something a year for one adult and up to 6 (Ithink) kids. You get entry to all their properties at no extra charge and they often have events like jousting, war re enactments, pirate tales, etc. Very worth it if there are English Heritage Sites nearby, we have loads near us and we go most weekends in the summer.

Also some schools and community centres sometimes have things on - drama, sport and craft workshops usually really cheap.

If I think of more I'll come back.

Happy summer..

Jayne

completelyspent

Have you got a toy library in your local area? If so you can hire toys starting from 50p.

mousegirl

I know our local swimming pool is only charging 50p per child through the summer holidays and I think they put out inflatable toys for them.

Of course if it's nice weather you could take footballs, other toys and go to local park, take a picnic as well - and if they took a friend each they might get an invite back!

sophiesmum_2

hi
have a look at this thread on the old style board - lots of ideas.:D

Hope this link works......

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=496317

sophiesmum:D